A combination of too much science fiction, and this crazy wish to at least once be able to see the stars as they are, unfettered by this bubble of gases that surrounds us. Oh, and " I think space travel is cool."

_________________Only in darkness, the light. Only in silence, the word. Only in dying, life. Bright, the hawk's flight, on the empty sky.

My earliest memory was of the first moon landing. I was all of three years old but I still remember Walter Kronkite talking about it. Then, about 6 years or so later, I was in second grade, I remember watching a sci-fi television show about a spaceship trying to avoid a black hole. I still distinctly remember that before every commercial break they would cut to a chalkboard. It was completely empty except for a simple equation that piqued my second grader's interest... E=MC2 After many months of reading and visiting the local library (30 miles away ) I was the only third grader that could explain the basics of time dialation and the Lorentz Contraction! I had no idea how the math worked, I just thought it was cool!

I still enjoy space science, rocketry, astronomy, wierd physics and other cool stuff but I just can't seem to find the money or time to explore all of my interests... And since I am a US citizen out of work, I have to worry about getting a job rather than playing amateur rocket scientist!

_________________Ken Linder - KC7RAD
"We turned our gaze From the castles in the distance, Eyes cast down On the path of least resistance" Rush, "A Farewell to Kings"

Well, I've always had an interest in space that has followed me around. I remember seeing a few shuttle launches from my backyard in Florida as a kid. I was on a fieldtrip to the science museum (watching an IMAX film on Sally Ride) when the challenger exploded. I think that left an impact on me, and I remember collecting any newspaper articles I could find on the investigation.

A few years back I got to see a launch of one of the shuttles up close (well, as close as you could at the cape), and I followed the construction of space station. (who knows if that'll ever get finished....)

At college I branched out into the field of cultural anthropology, and became fascinated with the culture of early 20th century. As I read about the beginning of aviation, the early flight attempts, and how record-setting air shows captivated the world, I realized that there was a parallel event happening today.

I have since put my research into early aviation on hold, and have been eagerly following this new space race, as this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is a passion that I have been sharing with my students (I teach Math to middle/high schoolers), and after showing my summer school students the xprize website, and a powerpoint I created on the 26 teams, we are launching our own model rockets outside today. Hopefully, I'll help inspire some future interest in the field.

I have since put my research into early aviation on hold, and have been eagerly following this new space race, as this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is a passion that I have been sharing with my students (I teach Math to middle/high schoolers), and after showing my summer school students the xprize website, and a powerpoint I created on the 26 teams, we are launching our own model rockets outside today. Hopefully, I'll help inspire some future interest in the field.

- binarysunrise

Okay, can I get a huge round of applause for this guy? I mean, let's face it: he's doing a more imprtant job than most of the rest of us put together. How many of our schoolkids have been convinced that being stupid is being cool, taught that poor academic performance is good social skills? We need more people like this, counteracting that effect, trying to bring us back into the Renaissance ideal of the intellectual, perfectly-educated, scholarly courtier.

Discovering Robert A. Heinlein at a rather early age is pretty much what got my interest in space going.

Heinlein... amen.

Then there is the fact that I grew up in the backyard with my dad, looking at stars through a telescope. And the fact that I've visited the Kennedy Space Center about 14 different times in the last 10 years.

One of the best moments, the moment where I had the most faith in the future of public interest in space, was at a band competition in Orlando. We were warming up to go do our performance for States Finals and a Shuttle was scheduled to lift off. I was counting the minutes as we were getting ready to perform. The shuttle went off and the entire band STOPPED playing, put their instruments down and just stood their and watched the shuttle go up until it was lost into the night... It was an amazing sight, and even more amazing that everyone was so interested. Of course the band director was FURIOUS. No one cared, it was worth getting yelled at.

binarysunrise- Thanks. People like you are the teachers that kids will remember. I took a physics class last year, we made H2O pressure bottle rockets. It was a blast and we all learned a lot just from the hands on experience. Keep up the awesome work.

Heh, thanks a lot guys. We had 17 separate model rockets that went off on Thursday and Friday, and each of the kids got to launch them around 3 times each. Quite a successful class.

Now all I have to do is convince my boss once the regular school year starts in the fall, that I need to take 3 days off to fly to Mojave I keep justifying it by thinking of all the cool presentations I can make before and after the trip....

Heh, thanks a lot guys. We had 17 separate model rockets that went off on Thursday and Friday, and each of the kids got to launch them around 3 times each. Quite a successful class.

Now all I have to do is convince my boss once the regular school year starts in the fall, that I need to take 3 days off to fly to Mojave I keep justifying it by thinking of all the cool presentations I can make before and after the trip....

Thanks again everyone, binarysunrise

Hey, you oughta try and get it to be a school field trip for your class. Ain't no better way to teach math: "Alright, now remember that equation for the trajectory of a ball thrown up in the air that I taught you a while back? Guess what...."

Then there is the fact that I grew up in the backyard with my dad, looking at stars through a telescope.

Similar experience here. One of my most vivid memories is when my dad "presented" to me my one Field Guide to the Stars and Planets. I was very young and it made quite an impression. *heh* never did as much with it as I should have...

At the Gymnasium Athenaeum in Stade (Gymnasium is like a highschool I think - next after Gymnasium is University or professional education) something similar to workshops is offered - it is called "Arbeitsgemeinschaft" and participation is voluntary. I was member of the astronomy workshop sinnce I was thirteen and it ended when I successfully left the school to study Political Economics.

I have a Newton Telescope and an archive full of articles about ne results of stronomy as well as of the missions of robotical spaccrafts to the planets. I also have been watching the Apollo missions to the moon in television.

By the Newton Telescope one night I tooka photograph of Venus looking like the moon.

The conditions I earlier told of in short are merely break-even-points at which traveling to another planet, exploration of another planet and living on another planet begin to be economical advantagous in the meaning of much less costly and much more useful for enterprises as well as for the people. The consequence might be that similar as much spacecrafts are produced as cars today. Then a single spacecraft perhaps might have a price comparable to a middle clas car or to a luxur car.

If such conditions are realistic is speculative to a very high degree and I wolud never say, that they are. But the XPRIZE proves that some of the basic conditions are realistic and possibel to be fulfilled privately.

Combining my knowledge of astronomy to Economics I found that space is providing quite new solutions to traffic of freight and to some other problems - Economics of space one day might a new topic of my science and it might provide quite new economical ideas and insights.